A Life Story
by BakaVSAll
Summary: After a person dies, they become a ghost, right? So, what happened to all those ghosts that encountered Danny on his adventures. Rated T.


_The story of my life... it's not exactly one I should be proud of._

Some time ago... A long, long time ago it seems... Anyways, nearing the beginning of the school year, I was with my older brother in the woods. It wasn't exactly a picnic in the park, but at least it was pretty peaceful when we arrived. It was in the afternoon, and there wasn't much to see. The thick and plentiful gray trees around us shrouded the forest floor with a dark shadow. The parts of the ground that we could see were downed leaves and yellowish grass. The sky above us is gray and cloudy, though we really couldn't see it once we got into the thick of the forest. Honestly, I can describe it with one word: dark. And, of course, the bright blue tent we set up stuck out like a sore thumb.

Sitting inside the tent with my brother, we talked for such a long time about relatively irrelevant topics. The next year of high school on the horizon, daydreams of a more technological future, family stuff I don't want to get into... I think you get the point. It's just nothing but small talk, jumping from topic to topic. Eventually, we talked about our next goal: getting a campfire started, so I can follow the smoke back to the tent. I mean, I knew the tent was bright, but I was planning for a long hunt, so the smoke usually seems more reliable. Anyways, once we were done talking and planning the details out, we collected our things, and I followed him closely outside of the tent.

So, outside, I gathered up plenty of large rocks of several different sizes, and placed them in a circle. I never really learned why lots of campfires do that, especially since the floor is probably just as flammable as the campfire fuel, but there's never any incident with it, so I guess it doesn't matter. My brother already gathered up all the firewood, set up the firewood carefully so that nothing outside the designated area would get scorched, and with the flint from our supplies, we were easily able to start a fire. And with the campfire made, I went back into the tent, and picked up a bow and quiver, and left.

Hunting was always a nice and fun activity if I start getting stressed out from normal life, like schooling or family issues. It's a feeling of amazing power and superiority, and the thrill of the hunt is so exhilarating. Since I have an older brother, and with the way society works, I'm always weaker than someone. Maybe it's a teacher, or maybe it's someone like my brother who's a little physically stronger than me. But knowing that I bested a creature, knowing that I'm better... It's a nice change of pace. I've been doing this since a young age, and I'm really good at it. Well... I think I've gotten good, yet my brother never believes me. I'll show him... Whether it's a hare or a doe, I'll make sure it will not escape my sight, and I will not fail to return to the tent without proof of my kill again.

I walked for a solid thirty minutes before encountering the first wildlife. It was a large moose about a hundred feet away, and I couldn't even describe to you how that moose looked like, because once I realized it was a moose, I quickly readied my oak wood bow and fired a steel tipped arrow at the beast. Oddly enough, the shot I fired just... fell to the floor, in front of me. I guess my finger slipped or something. It was such a bad shot, that it didn't even alert the moose of my presence. It didn't care at all! I readily picked it up again, and quickly aimed at the moose. The second shot, while it did fly at the moose, it stopped not even half the distance towards it. After letting out a huge sigh, I thought I could just get closer to hopefully make my arrow more worthwhile. And of course, as soon as I sighed like that, the game looked at me in the eye, and sprinted away. Figures, doesn't it?

It's at this moment where a small squirrel runs towards me and looks up at my face, like I'm some amazing wonder of nature. I thought about the situation at hand, and I realized that I really should show my brother something... ANYTHING... or else he'll tell me that I'm a lousy hunter again. So, despite this animal being very small and literally at my feet, I aimed with bow in hand at its head. I placed the arrow in its proper position, pulled it back with the string, and released.

It wasn't a spectacular kill, especially since it wasn't even dead. Even though I used my bow point blank, I still missed. All I hit was a small puffball of his tail. I didn't even pierce his skin. I showed almost no harm, yet again! And it was still looking at me, almost pitying me, the wretched thing! That's when I lost my senses for a bit... Or at least, I think. The details weren't clear at the time. But I do remember what my sane mind was going through. My vision became blurred, and all noises sounded like muffled static. My nose, mouth and skin all became numb. Maybe that's what pure insanity feels like, out of being a failure as a hunter, not even being able to stop the tiniest creature, being worthless. I couldn't tell you how long I was like that, since my sense of time also seemed to be distorted. It felt like thousands and thousands of years of that... feeling. Only out of the call of something familiar reawakened my senses, the call of my brother, yelling for help, despite it still being ridiculously unclear.

First, I started feeling again. I was in a little pain, but nothing overly searing. I also was covered with something slimy, and holding something both hard and equally as grimy and gross. My sense of taste returned. I started tasting something disgustingly metallic in my mouth. It was so disgusting, I started spitting it out reflexively. I began to smell again, and that same metallic taste transformed into a smell as well. I started backing away from... whatever was going on. I hit what seemed to be my brother's leg while moving backwards, and that's when I started hearing him without an issue. All I heard was screaming, and freaking out. Something cloth-like touched my face, and my vision returned, but I kind of wish it hadn't.

My sight was completely shaded with red. I continued to wipe my face with the cloth on my face, until some of the redness went away. In my hands, I saw that squirrel in my other hand, and I was shaking its life out of it. It definitely was still alive, but I could tell that my grip was killing it slowly. My brother came from behind me, and with a quick slice, he made a small but deep slice into the suffering animal's neck. The squirrel refused to move anymore.

My vision began clearing more, but I already stopped wiping my face, since I was rubbing the mixture of the squirrel's blood and my tears together into my eyes. I didn't even know why I was crying, let alone that I was crying to begin with, but I just felt... odd. My brother looked at my face, and he distanced himself from me, as if my body being covered with blood wasn't big enough of a shock. His face was a disturbing conglomeration of worry, anger, and anxiety. I didn't realize what he was pointing at until I reached further down my face to wipe off the viscera on my face.

I was smiling. Actually, I wasn't just smiling; I was grinning widely, even laughing underneath my voice. Thinking about it, I felt good. I felt amazing. I was entranced by this thing that I killed! The feeling of euphoria and bliss took over! I was looking at my brother, and he didn't understand. No one can! In anyone's eyes, it'd look like I just killed someone, and I was staring down my next prey. I had an urge to say something, something I knew that would scare him out of his mind, but frankly, I think I was still out of my own mind as well. I couldn't even help stopping myself from saying that very sentence to permanently scar him for life.

"Look, brother, I got my kill."

I don't recall most of what happened afterward. I know we found a river, and I cleaned myself up. I know I kept the tattered squirrel in a bag, and the entire time, my brother stayed away from it even though I know for a fact that he fell creatures much greater than a measly squirrel. Perhaps it wasn't the greatest or most impressive kill, but it definitely was a memorable one. Which was made only more memorable when the inevitable tragedy happened.

We returned to the camp, and already I noticed that he wasn't slacking off. There's a couple of well prepared fish from the river hung over the campfire, the fire itself is quite big, but still wasn't an issue for the tent. Even a couple of cans of food were freshly opened, sitting nearby the tent. Overall, it was a pretty nice day. He embarked on his hunt, since we started the trend of us exchanging positions between watching the campsite and hunting every hour or so. Even with that idea in mind, not even fifteen minutes after he was gone, I dozed off. I didn't care anymore! With everything that happened, I just wanted some sleep. And that was that fatal mistake.

When I woke up, the first thing I smelled was the smell of smoke. Quickly, I got up, somewhat still sleep-dazed and looked outside. The flames from the campfire started spreading towards the tent. In fact, the infernos were juxtaposed to the tent already. And I would have jumped out too, but I looked inside. There weren't too many valuables in there, but there was definitely one thing I wanted to get: that little sack containing my kill, my pride, my life... I had to bring it with me. No one would understand me, why I'd just grab something as disgusting as squirrel remains, but that was my one choice I wanted to make. And I grabbed it, and jumped out of the tent, through the flames.

And the obvious thing that happened was that the fires started burning the skin on my trousers and my legs. Not to mention my bare feet was essentially stepping on hot coals. I jumped away from the fire and tried rolling around, hoping to anything in the world that the fire would have went out, screaming all the while it was happening. But, in the end, it didn't really matter if my burning clothes were put out. I never realized how large of a blaze was made, and the forest was on fire. It was because I went to sleep, recovering from the previous events, and... well, me forgetting about the most dangerous part of our camp, I'm afraid.

But oddly enough, the flames I forgotten about wasn't the end of me. The flames started covering my body, and burning the flesh there as well, yes I'm aware of that detail. But in the end, the fire spread towards a large tree, and the tree, stable as it was, still inevitably fell. And I was right there when it fell, to reveal a stormy sky, raining. The flames were going to be put out. I was happy, just for a split moment. I thought there was still a way for me to get out alive. Then, it occurred to me that a second tree started falling. And a third. All these trees started falling. But one in particular, the one that just so happened to fall on top me... It pinned my down, and even though it was raining, there were still flames on my body that refused to be extinguished. And being unable to roll now, I knew that it was the end. Before I closed my eyes in acceptance, I saw a large moose in the distance, having another tree fall on it. Karma, I was thinking. For myself? Of course not. That moose had it coming! It would have been better if I took it down by my own hand, but frankly, it's fine. Whatever! I killed it, it's my reward! I started to smile. Now that I think about it... I think I stopped screaming when I saw that moose get killed! Well, my grand finale is complete. I can finally leave my last minute life event in happiness.

But, no. It couldn't have been that simple. I heard a scream for my name. The scream haunted in that last split second, so I opened my eyes, retracting my acceptance of my death. Over the tree where the moose was killed, my brother was dashing towards me. He even wretched at the dead moose. Hah! He's not the better hunter if he can't even look my prize! I'm better than him after all! That would have been an even better send off, but one last thing happened.

A squirrel jumped on my chest, now finally put out from the rain, but still hurts like nothing I have ever felt. I looked at it, and it unhesitatingly ran over my face. That squirrel is insinuating that I'm weaker! Bold-face lies! I don't believe it for a second! And a large surge of anger started swelling in my spirit, but my body finally gave way.

I was dead.

But it doesn't matter now... I am free. I'm still here, and something feels different. I don't have school, I don't have tiny, insignificant worries in my life. I don't even HAVE a life now! Now... I can do whatever I want! I can strive for this glorious feeling of being supreme! Being number one! I'm not restricted by anything anymore! I can hunt for whatever I please. Things, humans, animals...

Even ghosts.


End file.
